The present invention relates to computer aided interactive microscopical mapping in specimens viewed through a microscope.
A number of computer-aided microscope mapping instruments in the prior art involve optically combining the image of a video display with the live image from the microscope objective, such that when the operator looks into the microscope oculars he sees both images together, superimposed on each other. A cursor on the video display is typically controlled by the operator using a joystick or other graphic input device (GID). He can map information into the computer by moving the cursor over the viewed specimen and pressing a button to enter coordinates into the computer. Once all features of interest in the current field of view have been entered, he moves the stage and resumes mapping. It has been observed that the discontinuities associated with these "field hops" are very disruptive of the operator's sense of orientation within the specimen and of the continuity of data collection. For example, the system of Glaser and Van der Loos (U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,037) employs a configuration of computer and microscope, wherein the user controls, by means of the graphical input device (GID), the position of a "blinking X" on the display device. The position of the "blinking X" can represent, variously, the position on the display at which the user wishes to generate a mapping mark, or the selection of a system control command which is displayed on a dedicated portion of the display device. If the user wishes to place a mark over a location in the specimen outside the current field of view, he must first command the microscope stage to move such that the desired location is brought within the field of view, and then he must manipulate the GID in order to bring the "blinking X" over the location of interest. Finally, he must indicate, by pressing a button or by other means, that the system should record the current location of the "blinking X". The system does so, and simultaneously generates appropriate marks on the display in substantial coincidence with the specimen as an indication to the operator of the action taken. This method of microscopical mapping or sketching may be generically referred to as "moving cursor mapping with visual feedback." Thos skilled in the art will recognize that to map over a region of the specimen that covers many microscopical fields of view it will be necessary to move the specimen stage many times and as noted above the problems with discontinuities associated with these stage moves or "field hops" are very disruptive.
In this invention this problem is overcome by keeping the video cursor fixed at all times at the center of the microscopical field of view, and causing the stage to move under this cursor. Thinking of the cursor as the tip of his "pen", the operator instantaneously sees his "ink" in the form of luminous marks produced on the video display trailing behind the cursor as he roams freely throughout the specimen. Marks which leave the field of view are stored by means which allow them to be instantaneously and precisely redisplayed upon return to a previously mapped region.